


Unforeseen Changes

by intern_at_german_chapterhouse



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, F/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Marriage Proposal, Minor Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, POV Lily Evans Potter, Pre-Canon, Protective Remus Lupin, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Sirius Black & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28030935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intern_at_german_chapterhouse/pseuds/intern_at_german_chapterhouse
Summary: When Lily tells James she's pregnant, he does not react the way she thought he would.Inspired by a tumblr post I can't find anymore, sorry...
Relationships: James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black & James Potter, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	Unforeseen Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> I do not own any of these characters. Some of them, unfortunately, belong to JKR.
> 
> I do not support JKR or her horrible "views" on gender or sexuality. Trans men are men, trans women are women and anyone who disagress with that should feel free to read something else.

Lily's hands were shaking. This couldn't be happening.

They were too young.

This wasn't how she'd planned it.

There was a war going on.

They were too young.

But here she was.

19 and pregnant.

She could hear the door open and turned to face James. He came in through the back door, as always. They tried not to use the front door too much, basically just apparating to the garden behind the Potters' house and coming in through the back.

Every Order member tried to fly below the radar. The old house James' parents had left him was where the two of them were living for the moment. Some other members came by every now and then, like Sirius and Remus who were mostly hiding in the Scottish Highlands. Or Dumbledore when he had a new assignment.

James came in and took off his rain-soaked coat.

She was about to say something about water on the hardwood floors but decided not to. Not tonight.

With a wide smile on his face that felt like a warming fire in the cold autumn night, he looked at her and greeted her.

Lily got on her tiptoes and kissed him, keeping his wet curls that had gotten way too long out of their faces with both hands. Her hands felt cold and were still shaking when she took a deep breath and asked James to sit down in the living room where cups of tea were waiting for them.

She still held her cup in her hands when the door fell back into its hinges after James had stormed out.

Hot tears started to well up in her eyes and cloud her vision but she got up and did what she usually did when she was upset.

She cleaned.

Poured out the tea she had made for James, took another sip of hers, took his wet coat and hung it by the fireplace. She watered the plants on the windowsill, put away the book she had been reading before opening the letter from her doctor.

Put away the letter from her doctor.

And sat back down in the armchair that had become hers in the months since they'd moved into James' childhood home.

He'd made fun of her for going to a muggle doctor, said there had to be another way to deal with whatever made her feel sick the last couple of weeks.

And for a second, Lily got mad at the doctor. As if it were her fault.

And as the first tear fell, Lily curled up in her chair, staring into the fire and wishing all her problems away.

James came back hours later. Lily had fallen asleep in the chair and woke when he crashed against a wall.

He was drunk.

Really drunk. She'd never seen him like this.

She went straight past mad at running out and getting hammered to being worried about him.

But before she could get up, he kneeled down on the ground between her chair and the glowing fireplace.

And he took out a ring.

„Lily, will you marry me?“

His speech was slightly slurred and she could smell the liquor from where she was still sitting.

„James, I-“ She didn't know what to say and shook her head.

Before either of them could say anything else, Sirius, Remus and Peter fell through the back door.

Of course, he'd been with them.

„Hi, Lily!“ Sirius said and grabbed James by the collar of his shirt, pulled him up and led him to the stairs where Peter met them.

While those two whisked away James and Lily was still too stunned by the events unfolding around her, Remus kneeled down where James had been just moments before.

He reached out for Lily's hands and looked her in the eyes.

„You okay?“

And his soft voice and the touch of his hands, cold and wet from the pouring rain outside, were enough to make her cry again. She only managed to shake her head before Remus pulled her in for a hug.

They could hear the other three upstairs rummaging around, James yelling about going back downstairs, Sirius yelling at him to get himself together.

Remus sat in the other armchair next to Lily and looked at her, slightly worried.

She closed her eyes for a second and then smiled at him.

„Hey. Thanks for making sure he got back alright.“

„Yeah. He just showed up at the cabin and told us he needed the ring to go propose to you.“

„What?“ Up until now, Lily had thought that James went out, got drunk and bought a ring on his way home. „What ring?“

„Well, his mother gave him her engagement ring before... Well, you know. She told him he couldn't propose until he was completely sure, so he asked Sirius to hold on to it for now.“

„Oh.“ What else could she have said? „So now he's sure? Because I'm pregnant?“

„You're what?“ Remus looked genuinely shocked.

„Yeah. Isn't that why he decided to propose?“

„No. He came up to the cabin a few weeks ago and told us that he wanted to propose on Christmas. At least, that was his plan until... well, I guess until he found out you were pregnant?“

„Pregnant?“ Sirius' voice came from the bottom of the stairs, he had a wide grin on his face and practically jumped down the last two steps. „You're pregnant? Oh, that's wonderful, Lily!“

He pulled her out of her chair and lifted her up in the air to swing her around once.

It made her chuckle and forget everything else for a second. He hadn't done that in months. Well, they hadn't had much to celebrate for a while.

„So that's why he wanted the ring now!“

„Yes, apparently.“ Lily lightly hit Sirius on the arm so that he'd let her back down on the ground and she could sit back down in her chair.

Sirius sat down on the ground cross-legged and looked up to her. His face was still lit up by the widest smile she had ever seen on it.

„Wait,“ Lily turned back to Remus because she knew that he'd give her straight answers while Sirius wasn't going to be of much use. He smelled of whiskey almost as much as James. „So if he showed up on your doorstep right after leaving here, when did he get so drunk?“

Remus took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. „That would be Sirius' fault.“

The black-haired man shrugged and said: „Well if he's getting married I get a night of drunken misbehaviour first.“

„You mean like a stag night?“ Lily shook her head again.

„Yes, exactly, a  ** stag ** night!“ Sirius stressed the word and started laughing.

With an exasperated sigh, Lily turned back to Remus. „So, those two idiots got drunk at the cabin?“

He nodded, „Yes, I tried to stop them but I didn't exactly have a chance.“

„Still, thank you.“ Lily turned back to the dying fire.

„Hey,“ Remus touched her shoulder and waited for her to turn back to him before continuing, „congratulations, Lily. Truly.“

The three boys slept on the couch and in James' old room while Lily crawled into her and James' bed where he was already fast asleep. The silver ring on the nightstand on his side reflected the light off of a street lamp outside and she couldn't help but smile.

She couldn't wait to wake James in the morning.

Partly, because she wanted him to suffer at least slightly for the bad decisions of this night.

But mostly because she wanted to give him her answer as soon as possible.

He might be an impulsive idiot, but he was her impulsive idiot.

And they'd make it work.

Somehow.


End file.
